Talking it Through While Sharing a Reclining Chair
by Romantic Nerd
Summary: After William and Julia argue behind the stationhouse about William hitting Darcy, they talk through their decisions and work to heal their relationship - spending the night together in Murdoch's office in a reclining chair.


Talking it Through While Sharing a Reclining Chair

Julia and Emily went out to dinner after "Tristan and Jane" (the star-crossed lovers in "Lovers in a Murderous Time") were found not guilty of murder. While some of the discussion involved the interesting unfolding of the story of these two suspects, the center of the discussion focused on the argument Julia and William had had earlier that day. Julia was sure that Emily would eventually hear about it through the grapevine (as many a constable had been privy to their fight), but she had been keeping counsel with Emily for some time now, and turned to her friend to help her reflect on the troubling turn in her relationship with William.

Julia described their argument to Emily:

 _ **J: You hit him?!**_

 _ **W: I lost my composure.**_

 _ **J. I told you to stay out of this! Why?!**_

 _ **W: Because he's doing you wrong. Because he should let you go!**_

 _ **J: I told you I would handle it.**_

 _ **W: But you didn't!**_

 _ **J: Oh, and you thought that he would listen to the high and mighty William Murdoch. You were to stay out of this. He'll never allow a divorce now!**_

 _ **W: We wouldn't have to worry about a divorce if you hadn't married him in the first place!**_

 _ **J: You could have stopped me.**_

 _ **W: I couldn't. You know that. I had no choice!**_

 _ **J: You had a choice. You could have chosen me and you didn't!**_

They agreed that, of course, it was bound to happen as the pressures the couple was undergoing grew less and less tolerable. It seemed that many of the heart wrenching twists and turns in William and Julia's undeniably powerful relationship had been shifting from each of them casting blame for the mistakes made on oneself to aiming that blame at each other.

Julia felt such a sting as she remembered his anger – to the degree that he even seemed to throw a punch at the air when he said their plight was due to her decision to marry Darcy in the first place. She knew that the power of the sting was because it was true, and she had been beating herself up about it for years now. But even worse was the burning pain of regret that she felt for telling him it was his fault for not stopping the wedding – for not choosing her once he received her letter and knew that she would have preferred him to Darcy. And yet, it still hurt her so badly whenever she allowed herself to think about his choice in this regard. She didn't truly believe that he had no choice as he had claimed during their fight today. She wanted him to love her more than he cared for conventions – conventions like not bursting through a church door to break up a wedding because of a stronger love that would not allow the one to live without the other, or like keeping one's word to a rival for a love. Deep down, she knew that his decision on her wedding day had hurt him as much as it had hurt her. She knew her words to him today would leave him with a similar sting to the one she felt in response to his angry words. She hated to think of how she had hurt him, now, and ever. It was of small relief that at the end of the evening she had told him that she knew she could not blame him for choices she had made and that she was sorry.

Emily had consoled her and told her that she was confident that they would work it out. She had been there as only a good friend can be and Julia was grateful. As they returned to the morgue for Emily to gather her things before they each headed home, Julia noticed that the light was still on in William's office even though it was nearly eleven o'clock. She knew he had solved the case and that he could perfectly well finish up the paperwork tomorrow, thus he must be there at this late hour for personal reasons. The feeling she had in response to this thought sunk and burned in her gut. She felt such empathy for what she imagined to be his suffering, and such regret for her role in it. Emily clearly grasped the internal struggle Julia was having as she followed Julia's gaze to the detective's window and saw the look on Julia's face, like that of being punched in the stomach .

"Do you want to go to him Julia?" Emily asked.

"Yes, I think I do Emily. But it's so late," Julia said before they both paused for her to make up her mind. Finally Julia took Emily's hands and said, "Thank you so much Emily. You have been a great friend to me. Get home safely." And then Julia turned away and walked towards the lonely light in the stationhouse.

Julia arrived at the detective's door to see him with his head down on the desk. Figuring he was probably asleep, but fearing that he may be hurt or dead, she softly called his name, "William?" to which he did not respond, so she moved closer and repeated a bit louder, "William?"

William jerked his head into an upright position, and Julia might have laughed under different circumstances as some of his hair was sticking up and his face seemed all wrinkled where it had been pressed against the desk. It was a very rare sight indeed to see the polished and proper detective so disheveled.

"I saw the light on and it's quite late William," Julia said in a concerned voice.

William was doing his best to orient himself and pull it together. "I often stay late when I am upset and know I won't be able to sleep if I go home anyway," he said as he looked from left to right and back again across his desk trying to remember where he was and what he was doing before he fell asleep.

Julia released a soft chuckle and shook her head a little from side to side as she said, "We can't have a serious conversation with you like that. Go get cleaned up a bit – splash some water on your face. I'll wait."

While William went to the water closet, Julia perused the contents of his desk. Half expecting to see confessions and evidence, etc. from today's case, she had to admit she wasn't surprised to see the artifacts of some of the major pitfalls in their relationship lying exposed on his desktop, wrinkled and soiled somewhat from the immeasurable times of having been mulled over by his suffering mind. The pain she had been feeling in her gut twinged and she felt the swelling warmth in her eyes as she fought back a tear. There was the telegram with his proposal that he had never sent her in Buffalo, and under it she caught a glimpse of a corner of the letter she had left for him telling him of her feelings before her wedding to Darcy. He had been beating himself up too. This simply would not do.

When William returned, she felt for him as his beautiful eyes darted here and there, avoiding contact with hers, knowing he would not be able to hide his pain from her. Julia's voice held compassion as she said, "I think we should talk, I'm upset too. But it's so late and maybe we're not up to it."

"Let me show you what I do when I'm here so late and I'm too troubled to go home," William said risking a quick glance with his eyes before he moved behind her to the other side of his desk. He reached to turn off the light, but hesitated to tell her to take off her shoes, jacket and hat so she would be more comfortable. Without looking at her he removed his jacket, tie, vest and shoes. Julia complied, but felt anxious as she feared he may be thinking romance would be appropriate, and she herself still felt angry and was trying to think of a way to tell him he had the wrong idea. He read her hesitance and said, "I think this may be a long talk, and as you said it is very late. I think it would be best to be as comfortable as possible." After the final shoe dropped to the floor, he turned off the light and led her through the street-lit room to the corner of his office where there was an innovative piece of moving furniture – a reclining chair (Patent in 1892 by William H. Mitchell). He sat down first, leaving a little room for her on his side, and then he pulled her softly onto the chair. She was somewhat also on his lap as her legs lay over his while her hips rested in the nook between William and the arm of the chair. She had leaned back a bit to resist against him as he had pulled her into the chair because this felt too intimate considering the fight they had had earlier, but she yielded because she knew there was no one in the world she trusted more than William, and his actions seemed to be meant to show her that he believed they would be O.K. after all, even if they weren't O.K. right now.

William maneuvered the chair into a reclining position, and Julia was pleasantly surprised to find that despite still wearing a corset and occupying the smaller half of a chair she felt relatively comfortable. They rested there for a moment, saying nothing, each organizing their thoughts a bit and slowing their breath.

Julia spoke first, "I'm afraid we went from each of us blaming ourselves for mistakes we've made to blaming each other. I must say, I don't like it."

In a calm and contemplative tone, William responded, "Blaming is not helpful. We need to figure out why we made the mistakes we made, and learn from them, so that we can make our future better. I was working on one of mine before I fell asleep."

"Not sending the telegram?" Julia said, knowing it would clue him in to the fact that she had inspected his desk while he was out of the room.

William seemed prepared to take the lead. He claimed that it had been a mistake not to send the telegram and continued, "Perhaps you would have said yes, but knowing what I know now, in the very least it probably would have stopped you from accepting Darcy's proposal." He paused and said, "Why didn't I send it?" William mused for a moment. "Fear," he answered himself, "fear of the pain I would feel if you said no." He continued, "Surely it's important to know why I thought you would say no, and I guess I did think you would say no, or otherwise I would have sent the telegram… I thought you would turn me down because I thought your career might be more important to you than marriage."

He paused for a moment in thought, digging deeper. William took in a slow deep breath that bordered on a sigh. They both knew he was about to take a risk, about to say something that was important, something that would forever forward be spoken and acknowledged between them, something that would be heavy and would have to be dealt with for their relationship to grow. He spoke with a voice that carried with it this weight, "I thought that because of my standing in society, my lack of class and wealth, that you would be better off finding a man more suited for you. One that could give you a life that was free of being ostracized by your friends and family, and a man who could offer you the high quality of life that you were used to." He added, with a hint of a lump in his throat, "Your engagement to Darcy only solidified my belief that you would never have wanted to marry me."

Julia swallowed as she dealt with the swelling in her own throat. She didn't know if he could tell there were tears trickling down her cheeks. Her thoughts enlightened and pained her at the same time as they competed with a growing ringing in her head. The words she was thinking - "Of course he would think this. It seems obvious now. Why hadn't I made it clear that my love for him could never take a back seat to such things? How can I make it clear to him now?"- needed to get out, but she felt them being crowded and crushed by the gravity of the consequence of their being too late. She swallowed and pushed herself to ask, without letting her voice crack, "William, I know that this must have hurt you deeply. Do you know now that our socio-economic differences mean nothing to me, that such things can't even hold a candle to my love for you?"

William turned his body to be closer, speaking in her ear, thus allowing for an even quieter intimacy between them, "I know it now. I learned it as I watched you." Julia felt the warmth of his thumbs holding her cheeks to catch the tears and wipe them away as he said, "I felt it in my heart when you came to me on New Year's Eve at the turn of the century in that beautiful red dress and said that you knew I didn't owe you anything but you wanted to be with me."

After a contemplative moment, William concluded, "Now I know that the mistake I made was to assume I knew what was best for you - to let my fear of feeling the pain of your rejection stop me from ascertaining the truth."

Julia lifted her face towards William and said, "It's like the mistake I made when I left you to go to Buffalo. I thought I was doing what was best for you because you would be better off with a wife that could give you children and the family you'd always longed for. It was fear that drove that mistake too, wasn't it? I was too afraid that you would reject me due to my sterility to ask you if you would do so. I also let fear win out over truth. It truly cost us William. I'm so sorry."

They were quiet for a time, each reflecting on these new understandings and growing calmer, stronger, and more trusting, as they realized that their bond had been strong enough to overcome these struggles and grow from them. It was like the passing of eons of time as pebbles drop down to the bottom of a stream, slowly building up a foundation that will eventually become the ground that one can stand on.

Feeling strong enough now to carry on, Julia continued, "I knew from the pain I had felt when I saw you with Mrs. Jones that I could not cope with seeing you with your new wife, whoever she may turn out to be, and the family she could give you but I could not. I knew I had to go… "Julia's voice trailed off as her mind followed the images of William courting Enid Jones and her body felt once again the agony of jealousy and loss. By the time she spoke again, this pain could be heard in her voice, "I still remember how it stunned me to see her close to you in your office, and to happen upon you with her and her son in the park."

"Or at an exhibit at the Fair," William added so quietly that it could barely be heard.

He was referring to the time she and Darcy found him examining the model of a neighborhood that had won first prize at the Fair. Although she sensed he was more saying this to himself in recognition and empathy of the pain she was describing than saying it to her, it actually caused a wrenching convulsion in Julia's gut. Julia's ears once again started ringing and her eyes filled with tears. She seemed unable to breathe. Her awareness of how very badly it had hurt William to see her with Darcy had blindsided her. She had never really let herself acknowledge the effects this had on William until this moment. She felt herself crumbling and she started to weep. As she finally yielded to the need to breathe, she heard the shaky intake of air, and felt the immediate expansion of the burning pain within her chest as it grew deeper into her body, eventually consuming it. She was afraid to exhale, for she knew this would intensify the unbearable pain, yet she did so as she felt William's arms wrap around her and pull her in.

She raised her face to see his in the dim light. Those big, beautiful eyes of his with their long, long lashes seemed able to hold back waterfalls full of tears. She reached up to his face, and as she pressed her thumb softly to his cheek, a large tear burst free. She rushed to catch it as it reached his chin and kissed it away, feeling the slippery texture of the liquid and tasting the warmth of the salt in her mouth. She kissed away more tears as they fell, and she said, "Oh William, I never let myself see how much this had hurt you. I see it now."

He tilted his head back and released a long slow breath, bearing the surge of his throbbing wounds as he did so. He breathed this way for a few moments, experiencing first the expansion and then the intensification of the pain in weakening cycles, until, like a fan blows smoke away to spread it out into the corners of a room, the pain had dissipated and he could see his way to go on. "Yes," he exhaled again, "it was hard to endure," he said.

Again moments passed and then Julia asked, "All those years and you never even courted another woman - why not William?"

William seemed to change the subject, "Julia, your letter to me said that you had become aware of my undelivered proposal of marriage. Did you ever read it? Do you know what it said? … Actually, how did you become aware of it in the first place?"

Realizing that this was something that they certainly should have discussed before today, Julia explained, "After the Never land Party Ruby saw it in your desk drawer and took it when Constable Crabtree was taking her statement about the Littlefair murder and the nub of his pen broke. She brought the ring and the telegram to me in the morgue. I read it. I remember what it said very clearly – I always will."

"Do you remember the first sentence?" he asked.

"Julia, as long as you exist in this world there will be…no one for me … but you," she recited the telegram as it dawned on her that these words rang true – that they portended what would happen after she left him. He would never love another – he would live his life out alone. The enormity of the love William felt for her, its exclusiveness and devotion, enveloped her at that moment. To be honest, it scared her to know the bond he felt with her was this strong. She felt fear of the power and responsibility it gave her. "There it is again," she thought, "fear in the face of truth."

"Oh, I see," she said, "I don't know what to say." After a pause she added, "I guess you really do love me after all don't you?"

"Yes," he said, "Always did – always will." Then there was some kissing followed by a few quiet moments of thought.

"There are still more mistakes to learn from, Doctor. Are you ready to tackle why you agreed to marry Darcy?" William asked.

"Yes," she replied, "I believed I would most likely live my life alone, focused on my career. I guess, like you, I felt I would never be able to love anyone else but you and I had accepted that as my fate. But then Darcy started courting me. His attentions made me feel valuable again, and although I knew I would never love him like I loved him, I found that I felt better with him than without him." She hesitated before she continued, "I was sure to inform him of my sterility early on, before we became very serious. He said he was glad of it because he didn't like children and didn't want any. I thought I would come to love him. I didn't want to be alone and he cared for me. I settled."

Julia drew in a deep breath, announcing her arrival at a conclusion, "I think this mistake was about not being honest with Darcy. He would likely not have wanted to marry me if he knew how dispassionate I was about him. I think it was unfair of me to let him think otherwise – selfish really, so I wouldn't be alone… Truth seems to be the point again."

Julia shifted her weight in the chair and said, "Let's take a little break. I need to go to the water closet." They both stiffly got up out of the chair. After William turned on the lamp by his desk, Julia walked to the stationhouse water closet noticing how strange it felt to walk on the familiar floor without shoes. She was able to loosen her corset, relieve herself, undo the top buttons of her skirt and rinse her face. She felt better and this urged her to rally on to continue working on their relationship even though she was exhausted. She knew they weren't finished yet.

William had taken the letter from Julia off of his desk to re-examine it again. He knew this was a big one. There was so much that Julia didn't know about this one. He took a deep breath as he encountered his belief that this one would be hardest to resolve. He had made a choice, and, as she had said, he had not chosen her.

When Julia returned he said to her, "I know it's very, very late, but I feel it's like we ironed out half of a shirt – it's still not ready to be worn."

"Agreed," she said as she turned out the lamp and accompanied William back to the reclining chair. She had definitely noticed her letter in his hands before he placed it back down on the desk. She steeled her resolve to listen to him and to be honest – that seemed to be what she was learning from this so far.

William started, "Julia, I know my inaction in stopping your wedding is your biggest hurt and that it fueled the anger you expressed today, um I mean yesterday. In the letter you said that if I did not let you know of my continued love for you before you took your vows, then you would know my true feelings. I think the pain you felt when I allowed your marriage to be completed without intervening was due to the fact that you saw my inaction as an indication of my lack of love for you. I believe that at this point you know that I loved you when I read your letter. I hope that you can trust this, for truly I did love you more than words can say, as I still do. There is so much you don't know about my decision here, …"

"I know that Darcy confronted you about our previous romantic relationship and that you gave him your word that your love for me was dead and buried," Julia said. "And there are things that you probably don't know either, like that Inspector Giles wouldn't let me come see you in the jail because he learned of our history of a romantic relationship, so I wasn't able to talk to you before my wedding," she added.

He used a deep breath to calm his rising anger at the misinterpretation of the words said with Darcy, and the likely effect this misinterpretation had had on Julia's belief that William no longer loved her by the time she married. William said, "What Darcy told you about our conversation was inaccurate. I gave my word that our _romantic relationship_ was dead and buried, not my love for you – that won't be dead and buried until I am, and probably not even then." Then he reached down and lifted Julia's face to hold her gaze in his eyes as he told her that she needed to listen and focus now because there were so many parts to this story and she needed to know them all and work to see how they fit together in order to know the truth about the decisions he had made that day.

He told her about his history with Littlefair (Michael Cuddmore) and Constance Gardner (Eva Moon). He stressed that he felt it was his rigid adherence to telling the truth and sticking to the letter of the law that led to the disastrous results of Eva Moon's destroyed life and the rape, mauling, and murder of many others, including ultimately Littlefair. He told her what she already knew – that he had escaped from jail, but that he had done so in order to apprehend Constance Gardner and save himself from the noose. He explained that as a result, he also held himself, and his original stubborn adherence to the law, responsible for Constance Gardner's impending hanging.

He paused in his story to tell her that he had learned from this mistake he made over a decade ago as new constable. It had allowed him to change so that he could tolerate bending his acceptance of what is right when it was in conflict with the letter of the law. She herself had seen this growth of his in action when he did not turn Dr. Isaac Tash in for being an abortionist or her in for consulting with Tash about the case they were working on.

William returned to the necessary facts of the story by filling Julia in on the timeline of events leading up to the time of her wedding. Now she would be able to see that he received her letter at most about a half an hour before she took her vows. By then, he had already decided that he would break the law and set Constance Gardner free. He had even set the plan in motion by withdrawing his savings from the bank. He planned on using the exodus of the stationhouse by all to her wedding as the opportunity to release her. He had planned to turn himself in to the Inspector when he returned from Darcy and Julia's wedding. He knew it would cost him his job and would likely result in him having to serve some time in prison. He had accepted these costs in trade for his own self-acceptance, self-respect – so that he could live with his conscience. The turmoil he felt when he read her letter alone in the empty stationhouse that morning was nearly intolerable as he learned that setting Constance Gardner free would also cost him Julia.

"So, Julia, I chose. I chose my own need to be able to live with who I am over my need to stop your getting married. You were right when you said I didn't choose you. But I knew that if I did choose you, if I did rush to the church and storm the doors and beg for you to step away from the alter and come with me, that what I would be doing was condemning both of us to an unsatisfactory life. I would have been dead inside. It was a dreadful choice to have to make. But you should know, I don't think it was the wrong choice," he explained. William waited.

She got it. Her empathy for the agony of his decision burned in her chest. After a time she said, "I think you're right William. I think you did the right thing." Julia paused and then asked, "Why didn't you turn yourself in like you had planned? Why did you run away?"

"The Inspector wouldn't allow it," William answered. He continued, "He said he would claim he returned from your wedding to find the jail cell empty. That my being missing could be interpreted as my reaction to your being wed to another, as well as to my suspension for my own earlier escaping from jail. He would not take my badge. I left with the expectation that I would never return…It turns out that I couldn't live with myself that way either, so I came back to turn myself in, but I couldn't because it would implicate the Inspector and I couldn't let that happen to him."

"What can we learn from this one William?" Julia asked sounding tired and sad.

William thought for a moment and then said, "I think we have to learn to have compassion for ourselves – to forgive ourselves. To recognize the monumental struggles that we each sometimes face, and to know in our hearts that we always try to do our best, even if we fail."

"Sounds wise," Julia said as she turned to better encircle William with her body. Her words continued, "and that we should not let our fear of what the other one of us _might_ think stop us from trusting the other person to share honestly what they _really do_ think." With that she nestled her head on his chest, signaling that she thought their catharsis was complete.

William figured that it was probably about three in the morning. He asked, "Do you want me to take you home, or do you want to sleep here like this in this chair?"

Julia raised her head off of his chest and asked with a bit of a sly tone in her voice, "If you take me home, will you come sleep with me in my bed?"

"No," was all William said.

Julia responded as she lay her head back down on his chest, "I'll stay here then."

"I have a blanket, let me go get it," William said as he returned the chair to its sitting position and got them both up out of it for a moment. He returned with the blanket and the couple settled in together in the reclining chair for the rest of the night. Admittedly, there were a few moments of what the Inspector calls "kanoodeling," but it was brief as they were emotionally and physically spent and sleep overtook them quite quickly.

The constables were huddled together discussing the sight before them when the Inspector entered the stationhouse at the start of the next day. "What's up buggerlugs?" he said as he pressed through them and shifted his gaze to where they were looking. "Oh, dear," he said. Through the glass windows Detective Murdoch and Dr. Ogden could be seen sleeping snuggled together under a blanket in his reclining chair for all to see. The Inspector's voice was stern and impatient and his eyes rolled backwards in his head as he said, "Crabtree, deal with this. You others, get to work."

George quietly shook the detective's shoulder, "Sir…Sir." William stirred into wakefulness and quickly assessed the situation. "Pull those down, please," William said quietly as he glanced towards the window shades. (Julia heard this in her dream and felt a thrill run up her spine. To her, the sexy voice of her lover was referring to her bloomers, and she was more than happy to remove them. Outwardly there was a subtle twitch in some of her muscles as she dreamed that she obliged his request).

After George had pulled down all the shades and left the office, pulling the door closed, William felt a stronger series of twitches as Julia's body moved in her sleep. He heard the slightest hint of a sound from her throat. He reached over and softly shook her shoulder as he lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered her name. This seemed to trigger an immediate response from the sleeping Julia, causing her hips to start moving in a pumping motion. She increased the tightness of her arms around him and she longingly said his name, "William." William found himself blushing as he realized what she must be dreaming about. Her hips moved in a quickening rhythm and she said, a bit louder this time, "Don't stop… William, please… don't stop." She drew both arms up around his neck and pulled herself closer to him, raising her eye level nearly up to his, and then she opened her eyes. She was gazing into William's lovely chocolate eyes like this when her whole body caught the rhythm of her hips and she pressed herself into him with this motion while deep back near her throat she released two moans – each in time with her body's thrusts.

William had tightened his arms around her and was holding her close to him. He noticed the quality of her gaze change as she drifted out of her sleeping state. He knew she was awake now, and felt that she looked a bit confused. He said, "You were having a dream."

"Was I?" Julia said and then dropped her eyes down to her lap and then back up to meet his. With a slight blush she said, "I was dreaming that we were making love."

Now it was William's turn to blush as he leaned his head closer in to hers and said, "I know."

Julia asked, "Did I call out your name? I have a bit of a habit of doing that – sometimes in the most awkward of situations."

Feelings of joy were bubbling up in William's body. "She dreams of me often," he thought. He answered her, "Yes, you did call my name. I can see that might have caused some problems in the past."

Julia pushed herself back a little so she could better observe the effect the remark she was about to make would have on him, "How does it feel detective to know that you are the only man in the world who can make my dreams come true?"

William's blush darkened into crimson as he replied, "Quite good, Doctor - wonderful even."

Julia responded to this by capturing his mouth in a passionate kiss which was accompanied by a squirming of her body against his that felt most delicious. It took nearly all his might to convince himself to stop her, but, unlike she seemed to be, he was conscious of their situation and knew more level-headed action was required.

"Julia," he said as he forced himself to push her away. "We are in my office, and on the other side of those walls there is a bustling bunch of constables busying themselves in the stationhouse. We overslept, and we are both late for work!"

Julia looked around and realized the unfortunate gravity of the situation. She immediately pushed herself off of William and the chair and started rushing to gather up and put on her remaining clothes. William told her to use his phone and call ahead so they would know at the asylum that she'd be a little late while he helped her button up her skirt and then placed her shoes at her feet. He then quickly reapplied his missing garments.

After she hung up the phone, she addressed William while he sat next to her on the edge of his desk, "You know, William, we didn't actually resolve the mistake that started our argument in the first place. Why did you hit Darcy?"

He took a deep breath and replied, "Julia … Darcy said that if you were going to act like a whore then you might as well be labeled as one as well. He was on the ground before I even remember lifting my fist." He had dropped his eyes to the ground as he started his statement, but raised his eyes to hold hers strongly as he completed it.

Julia lowered her eyes as she stepped closer into William's space, and then reached up to fondle his shirt collar as she said, "Actually, I think that was quite gallant of you." Then she kissed him softly on the cheek. "However, I believe it is likely that the whole situation could have been avoided if you had not approached Darcy at all. I had told you that I would take care of Darcy – that he was my problem to deal with," she seemed to scold.

William stood up taller and acted to defend himself, "Julia, I don't think I should be left out of this. I am an integral part of it."

"We shall have to disagree on this one William. I want you to stay out of it – particularly now, after you have assaulted him," she countered. She positioned her face in front of his, demanding his reaction.

"O.K. for now," he said.

After a slight pause he shifted the topic, "Now Julia, you need to get out of this office and everyone out there is going to gawk. They are going to think that we did more together than talk and sleep. It is very likely to feel scandalous. I will accompany you out of the stationhouse and then I will come back in for my unavoidable routing. Are you ready?"

"Of course," she replied and stepped back to let him take the lead.

William opened the office door and as predicted every set of eyes in the stationhouse turned to look at them. He offered Julia his arm, which she took and they began their dreaded trek across the stationhouse floor. The Inspector bolted out of his office and barked, "Murdoch, how is it that you can be late to work and at the same time already be here?"

"I overslept, Sir. Dr. Ogden and I were up talking until a very late hour and we fell asleep. Sorry for any inconvenience, Sir," William said as the whole stationhouse fell into giggles. William was astounded to hear Julia's contagious laughter join theirs. He shook his head from left to right as he gave her his best feigned betrayed look. He couldn't hide his embarrassment because his face had turned its typical crimson color as he gave into a chuckle himself. Truly, for a time, all felt right in the world.


End file.
